>"The cultural work done in the past by gods and epic

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>"The cultural work done in the past by grunting and loud noises is now done by gods and epic sagas"

Do you agree?

Why should I care?

>>9531512
They fulfill the same function but aren't necessarily of comparable intellectual or aesthetic quality.

I think I'd agree more with dellilio and his conviction that the "the cultural work done in the past......" is now done by rolling news

The cultural work done in the past by gods and epic sagas is now unnecessary

Nah, its done by YouTube e-celebs.

What 'cultural work' are we talking about?

>>9531600
/thread

Stupid false-correlation. The Greeks in Romans in their late days had advertising merchants and bad poets. Sagas were written in times similar to Homer. He should compare us to the late Roman republic instead.

I disagree. The only overaching narrative or mythos in the West seems to be progress: technological, economical, social and ethical progress. Who's writing these stories?

swag

>>9531512
In a way, if that's what's on [our] minds. Internets has made culture a more relative issue than it was in even Barthes' day, however. Nonetheless the underlying idea is correct. If the Gods are on your mind, if a laundry detergent jingle is on your mind, if the writings of Sam Harris are on your mind, 'cultural' work is being done in terms of how you see, and place yourself in the world.
Makes me think of Benjamin's essay on Leskov, and Spengler's entire enterprise (as a kind of foil for this way of thinking).

>>9531753
Two things:
1. Can we really say that a laundry detergent ad holds the same amount of existential information and gravity as an ancient epic?
2. And what did you mean by the spengler comment? I havent read him but would be interested in what you mean by what you said, even if it's brief.

>>9531512
it's not done by anything

>>9531600
>>9531624

wow really made me think

>>9531798
Answer to 1: Yes, anything can work as a cathartic object and trying to put x or y above a or b is an attempt to justify your own choices

>>9531837
upvoted, good sir xD

>>9531600
>art is unnecessary on a practical level
no shit sherlock

>>9531873
I'm talking about mythos

>>9531515
>premise 1: B happened after A
>premise 2: B is better than A
>premise 3: C happened after B
>conclusion: C is better than B
I love how progress can make us smarter!

>>9531512

Thanks for posting this, now I know I can safely skip reading anything by Roland Barthes.

>>9531525
>>9531600
>>9531618
>>9531627
>>9531735
>>9531835
>>9531837
>>9531855
>>9531873
>>9531921

dilettantes gtfo this board

>>9531947

>THING A IS LIKE THING B HUUUUURRRR

Yea I'm good

>>9531955
what are you trying to get out of posting that?

if you disagree with something have the courage to write out a sincere post you fucking coward

>>9531958

That was my sincere post.
That's all the effort required to dismantle this tripe.

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>>9531873
Art is unnecessary on a theoretical level, as well as a practical one. Those myths and sagas had a reason to be beyond mere entertainment.

>>9531963
>>9531512
Could someone please shoop those two faggots on that nicest person you'll ever know / twisted fucking psychopath meme with Barthes as good and Bataille as bad?

>>9531962
>one of the most influential thinkers of the mid 20th century
>dismantled by that nothing post

stop what you are doing, you pseud

>>9531798
To answer-
1. Absolutely not. But the process is one of 'cultural immersion'. Consider the 'savage' in Brave New World. If his mind's on Shakespeare but everyone else's is on the orgy-porgy then the deeper fellow becomes the insufferable freak in orgy-porgy culture. By 'culturally relative' I mean that contemporary telecommunications has enabled the emergence of MANY cultural niches. Not everyone is watching (for instance) the same commercials anymore on the same few tv networks..
2. Spengler distinguishes the very use of the word Culture from what he calls Civilization, and applies them to a large swathe of people. There's an upbuilding cultural phase that sets things up (itself divided into phases) then a Civilization phase where these cultural forms are used and used until worn out. In despite of the myth of progress, we're deep into a civilization phase (with respect to his rather uncommon way of thinking) in the West, and there can be no 'culture' per se. The West is famished- what holds it together are comparable to drugs, short term solutions to insurmountable problems. Well, not REALLY insurmountable, but impossible so long as the Western 'forms' remain in play.
Spengler's an easy, even a cozy read. Check him out this Fall.

>>9531968
Fuck off to facebook

>>9531515
>imagine being that one cave man who didn't buy into the whole 'gods' theory

>>9531600
got a new atheist over here boys.

>>9531512
Most of your childhood memories are tied to old fast food ad campaigns and cartoons written to sell toy lines, so yes.

>>9531512
If he's implying everyone in the past cared about those cultural works he's incorrect. Not much has changed.

>>9532810
wtf

>>9531963
unnecessary to what exactly?

Yes. Culture is being replaced by pop culture. We now worship brands instead of gods. We're groomed into being obedient consumers, owned by corporations.

>>9532877
>groomed, husbanded, cultivated
in other words, we're groomed away from being human beings, and towards being consumers..